'Polish anti-Russian rhetoric scaremongering to remain in power'

Increasingly anti-Russian rhetoric from Poland's president Bronisław Komorowski is mostly an effort to scare the population into re-electing him, Russia Insider international affairs editor Alexander Mercouris told RT.

RT:On Sunday,
Bronisław Komorowski said the upcoming Victory Day parade in
Moscow is a symbol of instability in the world. What do you think
of that statement?

Alexander Mercouris: I think that at one level
they are simply appalling. To talk about the victory over Nazism,
a victory which liberated Poland and ensured that Poland today is
a real, existing country, as a destabilizing factor in world
affairs is nothing short of astonishing. At another level, of
course, it's a political scaremongering by a Polish politician
who wants to remain president.

RT:Will the tense relations affect the
V-Day celebrations?

AM: Some people in Western Europe have been busy
politicizing this anniversary in the most extraordinary way. What
is happening on May 9 ought to be an event that should unite the
whole of Europe. But what has happened is that because of the
Ukrainian conflict and because of residual resentment, one
suspects, of the disproportionate role Russia played in World War
II victory, which some people want to downplay, it is being made
into a cause of division. That is an absolute tragedy when you
consider what that war meant and what that victory meant for
millions upon millions of people.

AM: At this particular moment in time there is a
very strong move within Poland to try and distance it from Russia
and to create a kind of Russian scarecrow, basically to help
certain Polish politicians. However, I have some knowledge of
Poland, and I am confident that over time, relations between
these two countries will improve. I have no doubt of it because
that is very much in Poland's interest, and of course it is also,
I think, something that would be a benefit to the whole of
Europe.

RT:Komorowski said Poland cannot forget
about Russia's threat - do you think there is any threat?

AM: No, Poland is not being threatened, and for
Mr Komorowski to speak in that way is, as I said, complete
scaremongering, done frankly very much with an eye to internal
Polish politics. Also, with an eye to the kind of policies Poland
has itself been following in Ukraine, where it has been playing,
or rather, overplaying a very ambitious game which is well beyond
its strength and which is going badly wrong.

The problem with this sort of scaremongering is that it creates
tensions between Poland and Russia which are emphatically not in
Poland's interest. And I think there are a lot of people in
Poland who are aware of this and who are becoming very concerned
about this, even if they are not the dominant force in Poland at
the moment.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.